International Men

FIL 2014 Preview: White Division Breakdown

With a seventh place finish in
2010, Scotland has big expectations in Denver as they honor
their fallen teammate Robert Hetherington, who passed away in April
2013 while serving with the Royal Regiment of Scotland of the
British Army in Afghanistan. (John Strohsacker)

With plenty of attention on the Blue Division and favorites
like Team USA and Canada, Brett Amadon will be breaking down the
other divisions in the lead-up to the FIL World Championships,
kicking off next month in Commerce City, Co. Catch
all the action by picking up your tickets today!

Latvia

2010 Results: 2-5 overall (1-2 group play),
20th place

Head Coach: Paul Dzintars Kalnins

Names Worth Knowing

G - Gints Gutmanis (Druva Dynamite)

M - Riley Lasda (Albany)

M - Eli Lasda (Albany)

Origin

In 2003, Aigars Grinbergs founded the Latvian Lacrosse
Federation after he discovered the game while studying in England.
Over time, lacrosse continued to grow and ultimately faced its
largest period of development from 2008 to 2012, during which the
number of club teams competing for the national championship
increased from three to seven. This past spring, five men's club
teams competed for the championship. Currently, the hotbed of
Latvian lacrosse lies in Druva, Latvia, where the club team Druva
Dynamite has won three of the last four men's championships.

Outlook

Kicking things off in 2010, Latvia took on current White
Division opponent Scotland, where Latvia struggled to keep up,
losing 20-4. After rebounding to beat France in its next game,
Latvia dropped its second game of group play to New Zealand, but
still managed to advance to the middle bracket. With a narrow
12-10 win over Hong Kong, Latvia earned a rematch with New
Zealand. However, New Zealand jumped out to a quick lead and never
looked back, rolling past Latvia 16-3. The loss relegated Latvia
into the 17th-20th place bracket, where they dropped a tough
one-goal contest to Bermuda before losing its third straight in the
tournament to Italy, resulting in a 20th-place finish.

Scotland

2010 Results: 6-2 overall (3-0 group play), 7th
place

Head Coach: John Kenney

Names Worth Knowing

M - Jesse Fehr (Duke/Harvard)

D - Matt MacGrotty (Bryant University)

A - Luke Laszkiewicz (Robert Morris)

Outlook

While players will honor their fallen teammate Robert
Hetherington, who died in April 2013 while serving with the
Royal Regiment of Scotland of the British Army in Afghanistan,
they will do so with big expectations after a strong showing in
2010. Scotland cruised to a perfect record in group play four years
ago, taking down Latvia, New Zealand and France, with its closest
contest being a 10-goal win over New Zealand, 18-8. Advancing to
the upper bracket, Scotland continued its winning ways, edging the
Czech Republic before downing Ireland 15-9, which resulted in the
chance to take on Australia out of the powerful Blue Division.
However, the Aussies proved to be too strong, as they handed
Scotland its first loss of the tournament, falling 20-11. The loss
placed Scotland into the 5th-8th place bracket, where ir faced
another Blue Division opponent in England, who, like Australia,
proved to be too much, easing to a 23-9 victory.
However, Scotland recovered from its two-game losing streak to
top the Netherlands 11-10 to finish the tournament in seventh
place.

As Swiss Lacrosse continues to
grow the game, the Switzerland team prepared for Denver by playing
Austria in Davos. (John Strohsacker)

Switzerland

2010 Results: 3-5 overall (1-2 group play),
23rd place

Head Coach: Eamon Thornton

Names Worth Knowing

A - Emmanuel Moser (Wettingen Wild)

M - Dominik Kaiser (Zurich Lions)

D - Hans Fluhmann (Zurich Lions)

Notes

Tasked with the responsibility of growing the sport of lacrosse,
Swiss Lacrosse manages the Swiss Lacrosse League (SLL) as well as
the formation of a U19 team, which was created six months ago.
Before there was a U19 team, younger players were forced to compete
against more polished opponents due to the SLL ranging in age from
15 to 32. Committed to the development of its players, Switzerland
will set itself apart from most other European teams in the
upcoming FIL World Championship, as its team is comprised entirely
of players from the SLL. In addition, the Swiss were busy before
taking off for Denver. Playing a tournament in Stuttgart, Germany,
Switzerland then took on Austria in Davos, Switzerland, to prepare
for the altitude of Denver, before making an appearance in the
Berlin Open.

Outlook

Switzerland had an up-and-down group play performance in 2010,
beginning with a 10-4 loss to Slovakia. Rebounding to take
down The Republic of Korea 10-6, Switzerland lost its scoring
touch, as division winner Ireland defeated it 16-3. Advancing to
the middle bracket, Switzerland struggled to score once again,
losing to New Zealand 11-3, but recovered to bounce Hong Kong 11-7.
The Swiss followed up the win by dropping a 7-6 heartbreaker
to Italy, which forced them into the 21st-24th place bracket. In
the semifinals, Hong Kong got its revenge against Switzerland, but
the Swiss ended the tournament on a high note, shutting out Norway
2-0 to take home 23rd place.

Thailand

2010 Results: N/A (first-time competitor
in 2014)

Head Coach: Dylan Sheridan

Names Worth Knowing

G - Pongrapat Suriyodorn (Tropic Thunder)

M - Tham Tironsakkul (Franklin & Marshall)

A - Reed Barbe (Gettysburg)

Origin

In preparation for its first FIL World Championship, coach Dylan
Sheridan and his Thailand squad have been competing in a number of
friendly games and tournaments. Last year, Thailand took part in
the sixth-annual Asia Pacific Championships (ASPAC) alongside
fellow FIL teams Hong Kong and The Republic of Korea, as well as
Japan and Australia's U23 squads. Despite playing in the 2013 ASPAC
games for the first time, Thailand had a strong showing, taking
home third place in the eight-team tournament. Adding to the
excitement, the Thailand Lacrosse Association (TLA) formally
announced in February that it submitted a bid to host the 2015
ASPAC games in Bangkok. Currently, Thailand is working on
development projects with the help of Singapore Lacrosse. With
equipment donations by the TLA, regional development efforts are
set to take place in Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia and Bhutan.
Domestically, the TLA is pushing for the creation of a club men's
league named the Bangkok Lacrosse League, which would feature four
teams, expanding lacrosse at the college level beyond Chula
University, while setting up and preparing for box lacrosse
training in Bangkok for the 2015 FIL World Indoor Lacrosse
Championship.